Bharat Darshan Memories (Dec 17th, 2011 to Feb 10th, 2012)

I may go for tours and excursions with friends in future. However, I may never match the excitement and learning that I derived from the 56 day long Winter Study Tour (Bharat Darshan as we popularly call). I was lucky to be part of such group which was travelling from J & K to Tamil Nadu (touched all the states on the way) and then to Andamans and West Bengal as well. The tour became more memorable as I was also given the responsibility as the Group Leader of my proud Group IX. Arranging for accommodation, food, travel, tickets for the places of interest, interacting with the district administration over all these matters was an experience indeed and I can never forget the same for life.

Initially it looked painful to discharge those responsibilities – calling collectors, liaison officers everywhere, discussing the programme schedule with them, then ensuring that all my friends in the group are informed and finally seeing that programme goes off smoothly. However, I realized within the first week that I started enjoying this role and from then I never looked back throughout the tour be it for troubleshooting or arranging for extra visits.

I always feel that one of the main purposes of our training at the academy and attachments like this is to teach us learning to adjust with colleagues in a group and becoming a team player. I feel that Bharat Darshan serves this purpose most wonderfully. There are umpteen circumstances in the tour that reveal our personality to our friends in entirety and also reflect that of others. My experience as the group leader and also as a member of the group helped me learn being a team player, appreciate my colleagues better and be responsive to their needs and sentiments.

I could not have asked for better group mates than who were with me in our group. We began the tour with many apprehensions about group dynamics (there were already warnings in the tour briefing that we should not fight openly in public). However, our group shared remarkable chemistry and everybody got along very well. There were neither misgivings nor any bickering. The differences were appreciated and everybody respected others' point of view. I am personally grateful as a group leader to all my group mates for never making fuss about the facilities offered to us, attending even the most boring of attachments and making Bharat Darshan a memorable lifetime experience for all of us.

Accommodation

We were fortunate to get the best of accommodation with exquisite facilities as well as experience the basic ones with minimal facilities. Staying along the Line of Control in army camps with the Company Commanders is a lifetime experience. It is so inspiring to see our jawans staying in places with harsh conditions and minimal facilities to protect their brethren. Similarly, staying in tents in Sathyamangalam forests and taking bath in Moyannar river is also an unmatchable experience by itself.

The Narmada Sagar guest house in Khandwa (M.P.), the South Point Circuit House in Port Blair, Dolphin resort in Havelock island (Andamans), the Jalandhar Circuit house, Thamizhagam guest house in Ooty (was once the property of the erstwhile Jodhpur maharaja) are some of the wonderful stays we had in the tour. At the same time, the shabbily maintained ones like the VIP Guest House in Dalibagh in Lucknow also come to mind.

Food

We got the opportunity to taste variety of cuisines all over the country. We had the fortune of tasting the most lavish delicacies in five star hotels as well as taste the most basic food like the mid day meals cooked at schools. We were also fortunate to eat variety of foods while being on the move – like many dinners in the trains, breakfast in the aero planes, and lunch on the boat in Sunderbans. I cannot afford to miss to write about the food that we ate in religious places – langar in Amritsar golden temple, breakfast in Jain math in Shravanabelagola, Karnataka, and lunch in Belur temple in Hassan (Karnataka) etc. Personally, I enjoyed the South Indian food the most. After reaching Karnataka, I discarded all spoons and bowls and started eating with hands in banana leaves.

Modes of transport

We enjoyed all kinds of modes of transport. I do not think we missed any mode. Army in the Surankot (Jammu) sector made us experience travelling in their jeeps, vans. We also walked and trekked there along the Line of Control and in other Company Operating Bases. We also did enjoy the jungle walk in Sathyamangalam forests in Tamil Nadu when we were with the Special Task Force. We travelled in all classes of Indian Railways like AC, Chair Car etc. However, the most memorable among the train journeys was the short one from Ooty to Conoor in the toy train in Nilgiris. This route is already a UNESCO declared world heritage route (celebrated its centenary in 2009).

Journeys in water were no less either. The boat ride in Narmada Sagar dam in Khandwa, Pykara lake in Ooty are the small ones to begin with. Later the two hour cruiser ride from Port Blair to Havelock island in Andamans was the longest in terms of distance and memorable as well. Finally the boat ride on MV Krishna boat in Dhamkhali in Sunderbans in West Bengal is also an experience by itself.

Temple Darshan

It would not be rhetorical if I write that our Bharat Darshan tour was a tour of religious places. We saw worship places of all religions. We visited Golden Temple in Amritsar, Nangali Saheb Gurudwara in Surankot (Jammu) and had enjoyed langar. We also saw Bara Imambara in Lucknow, Bibi ka maqbara in Aurangabad, Sufi shrines and Aurangazeb tomb in Qultabad and Daulatabad near Aurangabad. We also had the opportunity to visit many Jain and Budhist temples, shrines and monuments like in Ajantha, Ellora in Maharastra, Shravanabelagola, Badami, Halebidu in Karnataka.

Coming to Hindu temples or monuments, listing them itself is a difficult task. We visited Badami caves, Pattadakkal, Aihole in Bagalkot district (Karnataka), Belur and Halebidu in Hassan district (Karnataka). We also saw Durgiana temple in Amritsar, Grishneshwar temple (one of the 12 Jyotirlingas) in Ellora (Maharastra), Omkareshwar in Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh), Dakshineswar Kali temple, Belur Math and Kalighat Kali temples in Kolkata. However, the most beautiful of all was the Chennakesava temple in Belur (Hassan) and the Shiva temple in Halebidu. Most interesting of all is the fact that we missed our main Shrine Board attachment with Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board in Jammu due to certain gaps in communication between the academy and the army.

The best of attachments

Army attachment was the best attachment I enjoyed the most. Wearing the combat dress and doing night patrol along the fence on the border made me feel like a real soldier. The opportunity to shoot with AK-47, Light Machine Gun, INSAS rifle was so thrilling. Getting to know about so much military lingo like CASO, SADO, ADP, COB, TOB etc. was very interesting. We got to interact with some bright young minds in similar age category like the Captains, Majors in various battalions. Interaction with Colnel SS Brar in 39 RR (Granediers) is still fresh in my mind. I also felt like being part of their battalion when they presented us a wonderful memento before departure.

I felt so emotional whenever I went to these armed forces attachments like in Jammu, STF in Sathyamangalam, National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune, and National Security Guard (NSG) in Manesar. I strongly feel that all our youngsters should be exposed to opportunities working in armed forces so that they can consider this option seriously when they make career choices.

Tourism attachment in Andamans is another beautiful experience. Talking bath in Radha Nagar beach in rain and running along the shore in the beach was awesome to say the least. Morning walk along the Kala Pathar beach still looks so fresh in my memory. However, the most thrilling was the scuba diving along the jetty. I only read about coral reefs during preparation time in Geography. But, seeing the countless colorful fishes and other creatures beneath the blue waters only made me humble about the creativity and imagination of the Mother Nature. Sound and light show in the Cellular jail in Port Blair made me travel back in history and remember emotionally the sacrifices made for attaining our independence.

And the not so better attachments

Kolkata was not very inspiring in terms of work culture and ambience. I felt as if people there keep living in the past and do not look forward to meeting future challenges. Rabindra Sangeet, Subhash Bose’s contribution to independence, poet Nazrul’s poetry are no doubt inspiring. However, the tiring traffic congestion, filth and dirt on the streets, laid back attitude of most of the workers were very disappointing. The public sector attachment with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Lucknow was also not inspiring as we saw most the employees idling their time in the workshops. Perhaps, the tour is purposively designed in such a way to expose us to all kinds of realities.

Rich mix of emotions

The physical drill imparted to soldiers and the rigor in army made my heart pump more blood and get charged up. Whenever I saw jawans in combat dresses, I told myself to be physically fit and be ready for any challenge if the need comes. The serene surroundings in religious places especially in Ajantha caves made me spiritually calm and I felt like spending some time meditating in those caves like the Budhist monks few centuries ago. The lush green forests in Sathyamangalam and the clean blue waters in Andamans made me immerse in the tranquility of nature. Lack of basic amenities like roads, electricity, and drinking water in most of the villages that we visited reminded me of the responsibility that I need to deliver as an administrator.

I do not know how many such emotions that Bharat Darshan evoked in me as we kept visiting place after place. I personally got an opportunity to talk to so many varieties of people like the army officers, jawans, collectors, police, drivers, hotel attendants, liaison officers, villagers and whom not. Perhaps, this is one the best ways to train us as future administrators whereby we need to learn the art of interaction with everybody in the society. I may not visit most of the places that we saw in this tour and very less likely in the same group. But the memories will surely stay forever.         

'Poultry Festival' during Holi

I really enjoyed Holi this year in the academy in Mussoorie. But, when I looked back 4 years when I was celebrating Holi in Jatara (M.P.), more sweet memories came to my mind. Then I was working in the Jatara poultry cooperative and Holi was the festival we always looked forward to. Not only in Jatara cooperative, all our sister cooperatives in other districts (of course every single poultry producer and trader) look forward to Holi. The eagerness is not play with colours, but to do some quick business when the consumption of chicken almost shoots up to 200% of the normal.

A common man may start his preparation to celebrate Holi few days before the festival either by purchasing colours or clothes etc. However, poultry cooperatives start their preparation at least 45 days before when they start placing broiler chicks especially for Holi sale. Broiler chicks attain the weight of 2 kgs in roughly 42 days and hence will be ready for sale during Holi if they are placed on schedule. No wonder the breeder farms and hatcheries also make their preparation from even before. It takes 21 days in a hatchery for the chick to hatch from the parent egg. Hence the hatcheries need to plan their hatching schedule from before to meet the demand for chicks.

However, the most exciting aspect is the sale of birds for 3-4 days around Holi. Poultry traders start stocking the birds beforehand in expectation of good sale. Hence, lifting of birds from the farms starts at least 4 days before the actual consumption day. The reason for spurt in consumption is simple i.e. celebration time marked by consumption of alcohol. In M.P., Bhaidooj is celebrated on the following day of Holi where brothers and sisters spend time together at home by visiting others’ houses. This sober and sentimental occasion also helps increase in sale. Rang panchami is celebrated on the fifth following day of Holi and those (especially tribals who enjoy festivals in a continuity) who can afford visit the poultry shop again adding to our joy.

I recall and cherish my Holi days in Jatara a lot. The cooperative’s poultry vehicle (the driver and his assistant) has the busiest of times. Me, the accountant, the marketing assistant were engaged either responding to traders’ phone calls or counting the money. I speak to my boys every year on this occasion and relive the occasion. They told me that Holi has been exceptionally good this year. The cooperative sold 25 tons of live poultry birds in 4 days in comparison to normal sale of 6-7 tons during the same duration. I presented these figures in the following table.

Particulars	2010		2012
Sale period (normal sale dates are of same week days 2 weeks before)	Sale during 13th-16th Feb	Holi sale during 27th Feb-2nd March	Sale during 22nd-25th Feb	Holi sale during 6th -9th March
Live weight of birds sold	4673 Kgs	8895 Kgs	6638 Kgs	24895 Kgs
Average rate realized per kilo live weight	73 Rs.	80 Rs.	70 Rs.	74 Rs.

As we can see from the data, normally the consumption roughly doubles (as in 2010). However, victory of Samajwadi Party in UP elections added to the business tremendously in 2012. The victory celebrations made sure that the poultry vehicle did not stop for 3 days continuously supplying birds. Jatara though located in M.P., is close to U.P. borders and caters to small town markets in U.P. like Lalitpur, Mauranipur, Panwari, Rath etc. The market becomes a suppliers’ market and we command the price to some extent and have the liberty of choosing the trader whom we want to supply.

Similarly, the sales of the biggest poultry cooperative in M.P., Kesla Poultry Sahakarita (KPS) have increased by almost 100 % from 26313 Kgs of live weight (during Feb 14^th-17^th, 2012) to 50557 Kgs (during Holi time 6^th-9^th March, 2012). My former colleagues, Dr. Harekrishna Deka and Dr. Mridu Pawan Hazarika told me that chicks prices’ also shoot up for Holi placement. This year, the chicks’ price shot up from 15-16 Rs. to 19-20 Rs. for Holi placement. The All India Broiler Breeders’ Association has also cleverly declared hatch holiday to create scarcity in the market.

The bumper consumption of poultry during Holi also repeats itself during Dasara festival, X-Mas and New Year. However, the most crucial aspect of poultry business is the ability to continuously produce birds every day. If we are out of the market even for few days, we may not be able to take advantage of the price fluctuations. For example, KPS which is likely touch a turnover of 20 crores during the present year 2011-12 could make an enterprise profit (after distributing the grower margins to the member producers) of only 5 lakh rupees in the first 10 months. However, since it continued to produce birds, it made a handsome margin of almost one crore in the next two months.

The wonderful performance of the poultry cooperatives in MP reinforces my belief in poultry as one of the beautiful activities for the rural poor. The annual per capita availability of poultry meat increased from 0.16 kg per annum in 1961 to 2.96 kg in 2011. However, this is far below the ICMR recommendations of 11 kg meat per capita per annum. Similarly, the per capita availability of eggs per annum is merely 51 eggs as opposed to the recommended 180 eggs per annum.

Moreover, the progress of the broiler industry is well dominated by the southern states including Maharastra which contribute 60%-70% of the total output. There is a great need to promote poultry in central and eastern Indian states which are marked by malnutrition as well as poverty. Poultry can not only create supplementary income in the hands of the poor, but also address the chronic protein deficiency in these poor states. The phenomena of eating out in the cities with more and more quick service restaurants opening up is reflective of the changing consumption profile of the middle class Indians in the cities. We need to cash in this opportunity by promoting poultry like agro-industries in the villages so that they can cater to growing markets in nearby cities and also create respectable rural livelihoods.

Credits and References

1. Dr. HK Deka and Dr. Mridu Pawan Hazarika of MPWPCL (M.P. Women Poultry Producers Company Limited)

2. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-06-08/news/27598670_1_poultry-industry-chicken-consumption-b-soundararajan

3. ‘Roadmap for Sustainable Poultry Production during 12^th Plan and Beyond’ by Dr. PK Shukla and Sujit Nayak, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Government of India  

Tribute to Rahul Dravid

I already read so many articles on Dravid’s retirement that I do not know what new I want to write. Many already wrote about his passion for perfectionism, determination, commitment to the game that made him see through hard times. I do not need to add that he is the second most prolific run getter in game’s history and the bulwark of India’s top & middle order for more than a decade.

But, there is so much emotion and pain inside me that I just want to write few sentences for him. What strike me most about Dravid are neither his centuries abroad nor him being called ‘The Wall’ or ‘Mr. Dependable’. I am humbled by his patience, tenacity and his elegant demeanor on and off the field. There were umpteen critics who raised their fingers about his ability to play ODIs initially. He quietly worked on his game patiently and kept practicing to modify his stroke play and ended his career with more than 10000 ODI runs.

When he had very rough time between 2006 and 2008 and when others demanded that he should also retire like Ganguly, he again quietly worked and spoke with his bat. I am so sad to read one news paper heading “Dravid calls it a day after disastrous ‘Down Under’ tour” (recent Australian tour). I strongly believe that Dravid never gives up so easily. His character is such that he would have gone to Australia even next time and scored like he did in England recently. I remember how he failed miserably in an Australian tour under Tendulkar’s captaincy in 1999-2000. But, he worked hard on his technique and gave India the memorable victory in Adelaide under Ganguly’s captaincy when we toured next time in 2003. It happened to be India’s first test win in Australia after 1980-81.

His strokes are neither audacious nor flamboyant as that of Sehwag. His stroke play also cannot match Tendulkar’s elegance. In spite of Laxman’s poor footwork, his strokes many a time look more charming than that of Dravid. But, Dravid’s strokes have the character, tenacity and discipline that reveal his personality as well. Similarly, his catches do not look as effortless as that of Mark Waugh. But, he has the patience and concentration to take more than 400 catches in his international career. As Sambit Bal puts it correctly, 'there is a normalcy about him that is almost abnormal'. He is calm and composed in terms of attitude that enabled him perfect fitness. No wonder, he went on to bat for 173 consecutive innings in both Tests and ODIs without a duck between 2000 and 2004 - longest sequence for any batsman without duck.

How many times I may have cursed him that he is just defending the ball and never attacked the bowlers. I was not amused when I read that he hit only 21 sixers in his entire test career (faced more than 31000+ balls for his 13000+ runs). But, I now feel bad that I should have enjoyed his batting even for the way he sweetly defended the ball, the way he ducked the bouncers making even the best of bowlers like Donald, Gillespie, Mc Grath frustrated.

His mental resolve is what I like the most and want to emulate him for the same. Laxman told that it was Dravid who made it easy for him during the 2001 epic innings at the Eden Gardens. Dravid used to tell Laxman between the overs that ‘it is all for which we have worked so hard and let us not let it go easily’. No wonder that his resolve made India win its first test match in 15 years in Pakistan, the first win in 16 years in England. If there is somebody who can keep his resolve and score a century after 15 years where he missed it by 5 runs at his debut, it is Dravid. And what better ground than Lords for such an achievement.

As Harsha Bhogle correctly put the heading ‘The wolf who lived for the pack’, Dravid was the quintessential team player. He personally hated opening the innings and keeping wickets. But, when it was demanded from him for team-sake, he did it to his best of capability without any murmur. My respect for him only keeps increasing when he says that he wants to simple things like taking his kids to school, spend time with his young family. He is personally such a nice person that is aptly summed up in Brett Lee’s comment that ‘if you cannot get along with Rahul Dravid, you are struggling in life.’

Cricket in future will become even more fast-paced than that of today and very few may remember Dravid’s strokes. However, the future children should still be taught at least to appreciate the discipline, the patience and the class of Dravid. There are always players who are lucky to have played a sport and represented his country. But, there are very few players whom the country and the sport will be proud to be associated with. Rahul Dravid is one such player. As Tendulkar put it correctly, ‘there was and is only one Rahul Dravid’. And Kallis also put it perfectly that ‘the game will be a little poorer without him’. I wish Dravid the best of times ahead. Hopeful that he will have great time with his family, enjoy things that he may have missed during his playing career and continue to inspire us with his deeds off the field as well.

Land Reforms, Sustainable Livelihoods – Dilemmas

In the week after we came back from Bharat Darshan, we had classes on Land administration. The class on land reforms and other classes on modernization of land records aroused lots of questions in my mind. Though the government as the sovereign authority has to guarantee security of title to the owners, the present system of land records does provide only a presumptive title and not any conclusive title. The modernization programmes underway are meant to correct these deficiencies through digitization and automatic updation so that the owner can use his legitimate property without legal hassles and avail credit when needed.

More thought provoking was the issue of land reforms. Now, the earlier issue of elimination of intermediaries is almost addressed. However, do we still want redistribution of land so that the ideal situation of ‘land to the tiller’ is attained? Do we still have the strong intent and intensity which were missing even in those good olden Nehruvian socialistic days in implementing land reforms? Or given the dwindling per capita availability of land, is distribution no longer the relevant issue? On delving deeper, some other issues concerning Indian agriculture came to my mind.

On one side, there is tremendous pressure on land to produce more and more to cater to the teeming millions. Conversion and diversion of agricultural land for industry and growing urbanization is imminent and unavoidable. Hence, production and productivity concerns will remain relevant in this context of depleting arable land. The double digit inflation especially in food products is indicative of the supply side constraints that we need to address to cater to growing food demand. Moreover, as the food habits undergo change, there is more demand for protein rich products like milk, meat, eggs etc.

I was shocked to get to know from my cousin running a diary unit in my village that milk prices around Tenali have increased from 28 Rs. per litre to 42 Rs. in the last couple of years. Now, even most of the rural families are not able to maintain buffaloes and instead purchase packet milk in small quantities. All of us also realize that even most of the fruit prices are beyond the reach of middle class families.

On the other side, the depleting resource base i.e. fertility of agricultural land is a cause of concern. While our agricultural production has increased by 4 times in post independence period, the fertilizer and water consumption have increased by more than 100 times during the same period. Whenever I read about excess usage of fertilizers, pesticides etc., I feel as we are heading for an ecological disaster driven by reducing soil fertility and depleting ground water level. Misplaced subsidies on fertilizers led to imbalanced usage of the same. Moreover, the government’s packages are also such that they promoted mono-cropping leading to reduced biodiversity (50 odd nutrient millets, pulses grown in rural India are fast becoming a rarity).

In this conflicting situation of pressure to increase productivity while talking care of ecological concerns, the presentation made by Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) in the class aroused lots of questions in my mind about the way forward. They showed a small film portraying the story of a small woman farmer called Prabhavati in Eastern UP who is adopting sustainable agricultural practices. Though she owns a meager 1.5 acres of land, she adopted a basket of activities like horticulture (she planted orchards in a small plot, also grows vegetables), poultry, diary to sustain her family of 10 members. She does not use chemical fertilizers at all and completely relies on bio-fertilizers like vermicompost, NADEP compost.

http://www.swadeshionline.in/content/small-farmers-big-step

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/UttarPradesh/Meet-Gorakhpur-s-women-of-soil/Article1-516366.aspx

It reminded me of IRMA days where we used to discuss that production systems such as agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture are interdependent and hence should be seen in a holistic manner. Rural livelihoods should be understood as a composite whole whereby traditionally farmers took up all these activities to reduce the vulnerability and at the same time reap the advantage of complementary nature of them. For example, dung of animals is a natural fertilizer to crops and crop residue is food for animals. There are endless such connections that we can explore like this.

But, I started developing doubts whether all these activities can be taken up now by small & marginal farmers given the technological complexity and the size required to achieve economies of scale. When I relate to PRADAN’ Kesla poultry model (now minimum 500 birds should be reared to get 1000 Rs. per month), dairy unit of our Chilumuru school (now 40 murra buffaloes are there facilitating transportation of milk to Tenali and setting up of small refrigeration and pasteurization unit), Mishrod’s Patidar agricultural farm (where vermicomposting is done to grow organic medicinal plants in at least 100 acres), I have only more questions. Whether all these activities can be taken up by a small farmer alone? He surely requires the support of producer institutions like cooperatives to take care of backward and forward linkages.

I am also reminded of Jain Irrigation System’s unit in Jalgaon where they manufacture drip irrigation equipment and also do research on tissue culture in bananas. My mamaji told me this time when I went to his farm that drip system reduced labor cost to a significant extent and also saves time, water to irrigate. Hence, technology alone can again show the way forward in meeting the complexity of challenges. However, is the modern day technology scale neutral so that small & marginal farmers who constitute almost 85% of our agricultural community can also adopt? Or do we need to shift people out of agriculture so that only the remaining few can take up these activities on a commercial scale?

What is a workable livelihood model for a small farmer is a baffling question for me. Can it be the romantic village scene (now a days, unfortunately movies are also not showing any) where he takes up multiple cropping along with dairy and poultry? Or is that he will cultivate few crops and purchase rest of the products from the market? Given the declining share of agriculture in GDP accompanied by not so proportionate decline in the workforce dependent on agriculture, all of us need to find solutions for the above questions.

Organic agriculture is accepted by everybody as the way forward to save our planet earth. But, is it possible to attain productivity levels that meet our food requirements too? Presently, we do not seem to be unduly bothered about it as our tolerance level for dirt, dust, pesticide residue is much more than western countries. No wonder that most of the chemicals banned in western countries are still used in India. I do not want sound too pessimistic as if all of us are headed for a collective doom. Masanobu Fukuoka’s ‘One Straw Revolution’ comes into mind as a refreshing breather. Both our practices and the philosophy behind them need to change for such wonders to happen. I am very hopeful that we still have the sanity, alertness to invent, innovate and find solutions for all these questions.

U.P. Election Attachment in Bulandshahar District (26th-28th Feb, 2012)

I feel fortunate to have got an opportunity to witness the biggest democratic exercise in the world in the sixth phase of ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections. Our batch was divided and sent to 10 districts and I was part of the group that went to Bulandshahar district. We could see district administration from close quarters and appreciate the gigantic and varied tasks that they perform from the time of press conference in Delhi announcing the dates of elections to the time of issuing of certificates to the winning candidates after the final counting of votes.

On the evening we reached Bulandshahar (26th Feb, 2012), the District Magistrate, Miss Kamni Chauhan Ratan hosted a formal dinner for us along with various Observers (senior officers from various states) sent by Election Commission of India (ECI). There were 7 IAS, 1 IPS and 2 IRS officers to act as independent observers for the entire process covering nomination phase, campaign related issues, enforcement of Model Code of Conduct (MCC), monitoring of election expenditure, actual poll day processes etc.

The next day (Pre-poll day), we were witness to the distribution of polling material (Electronic Voting Machines – EVMs, various stationery like posters, forms etc.) to the polling parties. The exercise of distribution of material and dispatch of polling parties to polling stations was monumental to say the least. We can gauge it from the fact at least 25000 people were present in Government Degree college premises collecting the material and leaving for respective villages (in hired busses as per the route charts worked out).

Man management itself looks to be the most challenging task in elections. There were more than 2000 polling stations in the district (total of 7 Assembly constituencies) with each station served by a polling party of at least 4 employees (one Presiding Officer and minimum 3 Polling Officers). Apart from them, there were 80 companies of Central Paramilitary Forces (about 8000 personnel) in this district itself in addition to equivalent number of home guards and state police deployed.

I cannot miss to write about the pain taken by the polling staff in conducting elections. They undergo training initially and later spend 3 consecutive days during the actual poll. They collect material amidst din, dirt and dust, travel in cramped busses assigned to them to the randomly selected villages, come back in the same busses to deposit EVMs and other forms amidst even more chaos at the allotted counters. Most crucially, they sit non-stop during the poll day in the booth probably without getting a chance to take food also.

ECI pays them honorarium for the days they devoted. However, I strongly felt that facilities given to them are far from satisfactory. They definitely deserve at least clean drinking water, packed food (as they are expected not to take food from anybody in the village on the poll day), toilet facilities and decent transportation back to their homes. What I saw in UP actually reflected the general conditions of civic amenities available like transportation, drinking water etc. If common citizens enjoy these facilities every day, it would not be an issue for the polling staff on the poll day.

On the decisive day of polls, me and our group leader Shweta were attached with the Returning Officer (R.O.) of Khurja constituency, Mr. Soumya Srivastava. Khurja seat is reserved for SCs this time and interestingly Rahul Gandhi was there in Khurja on the last day of campaign. We had an awesome experience visiting various polling stations throughout the day along with the R.O. and watching him troubleshooting on a variety of issues like non-functional EVMs, handling the media, law & order, bad behavior of polling staff etc. R.O. should have the knack of satisfactorily addressing the concerns of observers, media, polling agents, political parties, subordinates, superiors (including the ECI).

Most important of all, he should have the presence of mind and a cool head amidst non-stop ringing of his cell phones throughout the day. ECI heavily encouraged advertisement of phone numbers on its website and in all polling booths as well. Our R.O.’s both cell phones were continuously ringing with respect to poll complaints (many genuine and some vexatious by the political parties, media etc.), technical issues like non-functional EVMs (he was getting them replaced from the reserve EVMs), inefficiency or bad demeanor of polling staff (he was also replacing them as well), progress of voting (he was continuously taking the data from Sector Magistrates and Zonal Magistrates and relaying the poll percentage).

The R.O. also told us about the aggressive voter awareness campaign launched by the district administration under the guidance of the Collector. We saw hoardings, T-shirts with slogans ‘Do minute vote keliye’. Bulandshahar is also set to enter Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest rangoli, maximum of candles lit at the same time for voter awareness. The R.O. also told us about the necessity of sending clear signals to all the political parties and subordinates from the minute elections are announced. The Collector did proactive exercise and formed flying squads the next day of announcement of elections. These squads immediately ceased cash during raids and vehicle inspections sending clear signals about the serious intent of administration. We could also appreciate the coordination between the Collector and the SP which is an absolute must for such mammoth exercise.

However, the most heartening thing to see was the long queues of voters eagerly waiting to exercise their franchise. I felt so proud about our democracy when I saw disabled, old and the infirm apart from the young so eagerly coming and casting their votes. It reminded me of our responsibility of conducting the elections in a free and fair manner. In front of such satisfaction, sleepless nights, countless phone calls and endless visits to booths look so insignificant. What more bigger management challenge can I ask for than making 22 lakh voters vote peacefully and fearlessly with the support of almost 25000 employees?

Conducting elections is a process that can be continuously improved upon through use of technology and innovative ideas. Presently, the booth level Presiding Officer is expected to fill mind boggling variety of forms on the polling day. Even the most alert person can make a mistake while handling long queue of voters enthusiastically pushing to vote quickly & simultaneously filling myriad forms. Reduction of manual errors through automation is one big challenge. Similarly, lot more innovation can be thought about handling logistics of distribution & collection of polling material among thousands of polling staff. I am sure that many are already working on these issues. I am also eagerly looking forward to work in elections and make little contribution whatever I can.